I was just wondering if anyone knew the answer to a question I had.

If a child support case is dismissed with out prejudice, is the child support still owed? I would appreciate any answers or any references any one has to help me find out.

Thanks

If the case is dismissed, then there was no ruling, but without prejudice means that they can refile the case again.
So was this a case to change existing, or to establish the original child support.

If there is no order in place, no current payment is court ordered, but once the case gets approved, then it will go back so back pay will be due when the court does rule on it.

Can I assume that whoever got it dismissed had an attorney ?

This was a case to establish the child support. From my understanding, child support was set but then neither party showed up for court so the case was dismissed with out prejudice. It is my fiancee's son. We just hired a lawyer to try to get rights to him. Paternity has never been established and our lawyer pulled a child support case. I have the case details but they look like they are in code! Lol, Im not big on the legal stuff. So to say when we do get rights to him and his mother sets up child support,which Im sure she will, the back child support will then go in place? Thanks so much for your help.

Paternity has to be proven before he can exercise his paternal rights or be compelled to pay child support. Either he or the mother has to ask the court for an adjudication of paternity, then all three (mother, alleged father and child) have to submit to a DNA test. If the test comes back positive, then visitation and child support will be established.

Yes, after paternity has been established as cianci described then the child support order as well as the back support will be in place.

Well, that is why we were so surprised about him being ordered to pay child support. He's never had a paternity test done but he is legally the father. An order for his name to be on the birth certificate was also done in 2004. We just recently went and got this birth certificate. The mother never followed through on any of it so we paid the fee and he is now listed as the father. But beyond all of that, you all think that no child support is owed currently,right? Also,I was thinking when the judge does re-order it to be done, do you think my husband is going to be obligated to pay for 5(thats how old his son is) years worth of back child support or just the 1 year and 1/2 half that it was in effect? If I am not making sense let me know.. I can post the case details on here w/o names if it will help. Once again, thanks everyone!

He will be ordered to pay all five years of back support. But breath easy, it won't be all at one time. The judge will determine how much is owed for each year before current support and how much current support will be due each week. Your husband will then have an order to pay x dollars per week plus y each week till it is all current. Two cases I know of personally invovlve one that is ordered to pay $88 per week plus $12 so he pays $100 a week the other one has a current weekly payment of $76 per week plus $15 so will be paying $91 till the back support is done. I hope that helped!

If there is a current order of support then he needs to find out for sure what it is. At a minimum he should be paying it already to a separate account if he's unsure where to send it or isn't sending it directly to the mom. Also a lot of what he pays is going to depend on the judge. Was the action you speak of one that oredered him to pay the support ? Is he helping any with the child at this time. All those are going to go into what might happen when it comes to paying support. What he pays also depends on where he lives and how much he is making. Also keep in mind that for reguler child support they can't take over 50% gross wages ( that's before tax ) and if there are arrearages then that percentage goes up to a whopping 65% as a guideline from the federal level for child support. He needs to get his support going ASAP and get his visitation established before other issues crop up.

Well,the mother tried to get his son adopted by her husband without his consent. She claimed to not know who the father was. So we have a lawyer and we contested the adoption. We met with the lawyer and she is the one who gave us the case files that I am having trouble decoding. Lol. There doesn't appear to be a current order for support. Just the year and a half of back support before the case was dismissed. But everyone wish us luck, because the lawyer just told me that a meeting has been set up between the lawyers for the 12th. So maybe I will have some answers. Thanks everyone.

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Originally Posted by ConcernedMommy08

I was just wondering if anyone knew the answer to a question I had.

If a child support case is dismissed with out prejudice, is the child support still owed? I would appreciate any answers or any references any one has to help me find out.

Thanks

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No it is not owed... I know Where I am from if its dismissed, Then the case is closed.